Word of the Day helps bridge language gap on Astros' multinational roster

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Astros pitcher AJ Blubaugh was one of the first to greet new teammate Tatsuya Imai in the early days of camp last week. Imai, a star pitcher from Japan who signed a three-year deal in January, has been accompanied by a translator everywhere he goes, but the Ohio-born Blubaugh was curious to learn more about Imai from Imai himself.

“How do you say ‘Good morning’ in Japanese?” he asked Imai.

“Ohayo,” Imai said.

“Ohio, that’s where I’m from!” Blubaugh said.

With that innocent exchange, a bond began building between teammates who grew up in different corners of the world and in different cultures. And the Astros are encouraging more of it, with manager Joe Espada vowing to learn some Japanese himself.

“I’m trying to do my best,” he said. “It’s going to take some time. We’re all trying to learn some, not only Japanese but also Mandarin.”

The Astros have had the most internationally born players on their Opening Day roster in each of the previous five seasons, including 16 last season. Like most clubhouses, the Astros’ is a melting pot of cultures, with music, food, fashion and languages from different corners of the world.

Players on Houston's Spring Training roster this year hail from the United States, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Venezuela, Japan, Cuba and Taiwan, and speak four different languages. In a sport where communication is vital, the Astros are trying to bridge multiple language barriers this spring.

When the players enter the clubhouse each day, the Word of the Day is written on a white chalkboard in English, Spanish, Japanese and Mandarin. Taiwanese pitcher Kai-Wei Teng, acquired in a trade from the Giants, speaks Mandarin. The words are chosen each day by team travel director Juan Huitron.

“The goal is at the end of camp to be able to string some sentences together,” Espada said. “The players really love that we’re trying.”

On the first day of camp, the Word of the Day was “baseball,” which is “beisbol” in Spanish, “yakyuu” (yahk-koo) in Japanese and “bangqui” (bong-cho) in Mandarin. “Hello,” “food” and “friend” have also been among those words on the board, along with their pronunciations.

“I did learn ‘good morning’ in Japanese is ‘ohayo,’ which is actually where I'm from,” Blubaugh said. “So I got that one locked up. And obviously, ‘konnichiwa’ is ‘hello.’ So we’re getting there. I’m trying to put together some words and phrases. I got some pronunciation things to work on, but we’ll get there.”

Astros pitcher Spencer Arrighetti said it’s been a treat getting to know Imai through his translator, Ryo Takagi, and he’s been trying to pick up as much Japanese as he can.

“I’ve been asking him about the culture there, the way they treat Spring Training and a little bit about his slider,” he said. “He’s obviously a very, very hard worker and he’s really good at what he does and he’s really process-oriented in what he knows works for him, and I always think it’s cool to see that with the guys. I’ll ask his translator about a thing or two here or there, and I’ll get an answer from [Imai] about it. It’s cool.”

Imai, 27, was a three-time All-Star in NPB, including in both 2024 and ’25. He emerged as an ace-level pitcher in Japan over the past several years. He’s the fourth Japanese player to wear an Astros uniform -- and the first since Yusei Kikuchi spent the final two months of the season with Houston in 2024. Imai has picked up some of the English words, as well.

“I’ve just got to go little by little every day, just accumulating little small words,” he said through Takagi. “Just like Yuskei Kikuchi, who’s now able to have conversations with others, and that’s where I’m at.”

Both Imai and Teng will have their translators come with them when Espada or one of his coaches or trainers makes a mound visit this season to make sure the communication is on-point during the game. But spring is about teammates getting to know them better -- and vice versa.

“Obviously, he’s a great baseball mind, and you can tell that by the way he pitches and the way he goes about his business,” Blubaugh said of Imai. “So I feel like anything I could pick up from him, and the more I could get to know him and say ‘hi’ here and there, we can learn from each other.”